Had to turn to Twitter to make authorities act in case of killing of party worker's kin: Sr BJP MLA

The subsequent post mortem revealed that he died of a bullet injury, but the Lakhimpur Kheri police kept on dithering in taking action and arresting the accused in the case despite deceased’s brother knocking at every door for the last two months,” he said. "Ajit's brother Arvind knocked at every door but to no avail and when he came to me I sought the help from Radha Mohan Das Agarwal," he said.

Criticising the alleged police inaction in the killing of a BJP worker’s relative in celebratory firing in Lakhimpur Kheri nearly two months ago, a ruling party MLA on Friday said he had to take to Twitter to make authorities act in the case. Senior BJP MLA Radha Mohan Das Agarwal said he had to approach Chief Minister Yogi Adtyanath through Twitter to apprise him of the police "inaction" when his five calls each to the state’s additional chief secretary and the police chief on August 17 remained unanswered.

Agarwal said the authorities assured him of the requisite action, only after he resorted to Twitter to lodge a complaint with the chief minister. “I deleted my tweets after the Lakhimpur Kheri police arrested the accused after lodging a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder under section 304 of the Indian Penal Code,” Agarwal told PTI on phone.

“Additional Chief Secretary Awanish Kumar Awasthi and DGP Hitesh Chandra Awasthi both later told me that even the Kotwali SHO, Ajay Kumar Mishra, who has been dilly-dallying in the case, has been transferred to the district police lines,” said Agarwal. Agarwal, however, emphasised that his action should not be misconstrued as a protest against his party's government in the state.

“As a BJP MLA, I am with my party inside the assembly, but as a people’s representative, I am with the people outside the assembly,” he said. The case in which Agarwal had to intervene dated back to June 25 this year when brother-in-law Ajit Pratap Singh of BJP worker Mahendra Pratap Singh, suffered a bullet injury in celebratory firing during a marriage procession in his neighbourhood and died unnoticed by people.

“Ajit was standing in the balcony of his flat watching the wedding of his neighbour Mustafa's daughter. One Shanu Khan opened fire in celebration during the wedding when one bullet hit Ajit and he died,” said Mahendra Pratap Singh. “Ajit’s body kept lying in the balcony for two days before the killing was discovered. The subsequent post mortem revealed that he died of a bullet injury, but the Lakhimpur Kheri police kept on dithering in taking action and arresting the accused in the case despite deceased’s brother knocking at every door for the last two months,” he said.

"Ajit's brother Arvind knocked at every door but to no avail and when he came to me I sought the help from Radha Mohan Das Agarwal," he said. Lauding MLA Agarwal’s intervention in the case, he added, "Radha Mohan Das Agarwal is a great BJP worker as for a small party worker like me, he kept aside his position and stood by me.” PTI CORR SAB RAX RAX